For The Love of a Daughter
by LoveWasOurs
Summary: A sequel to Falling a Step Below; Ciara's third-person POV. Ciara and her family's relationship struggle.
1. Chapter 1

Ciara ran her brush through her hair only a couple times before deciding that it was already naturally straight and brushing it more wasn't necessary. She grabbed her skateboard in one hand, yanking one strap of her bag over her shoulder before rushing to the kitchen. Her mother sat at the table, Ciara's non-biological father sitting across from her. She took the toast out of the toaster without any consideration towards whom it originally belonged to.

"Should I give you a ride?" Maya suggested, "You'll be late."

Ciara lifted her skateboard a bit. "I won't be late," she said, smirking. She gave her mother a peck on the cheek. "Later, mom, love you," she said, her words coming out jumbled together as she skated out of the house, ignoring the nagging of Nathaniel as she did so. Once outside, she increased her speed towards school. It wasn't just any school though; it was Sweet Amoris High. High school! Finally. She was going to the school all three of her parents went to. Her step-father had given her a speech about how to act and whatnot; of course she wasn't going to abide by those rules since she had her own set of rules to follow. The school was just around the corner, she mentally noted as she stuffed the toast into her mouth. As she turned, she was almost surprised to see the big crowds of people outside.

Ciara's skateboard slowed a bit but her confidence didn't falter. A few stupid teenagers wouldn't bring her down. She let a smirk cross her face as her gaze spotted a group of preppy girls that she would have a nice time skating through. At least she thought until her board suddenly stopped and the school flirt stepped in front of her. He took her shoulders.

"That's not how a lady should eat," he scolded, a flirt hint to his voice as he added, "Let me take that off your mouth for you."

He leaned forward and seductively bit the end only to have her elbow him in the stomach so hard he crouched down, holding his stomach.

"Never touch my food, dipwad," she snapped before skating to the entrance of the building, nonstop even after she went inside.

"No skateboarding in the school!" snapped an old woman with gray hair and a pink suit. She looked like her death date was overdue. She approached Ciara with a scowl before coming to a realization and her scowl was replaced with a grin. "Oh!" she said, "You're Nathaniel's daughter, right? He came by a few weeks ago."

"Nope, you're wrong!" Ciara interrupted, "He's not my dad."

"Oh?" she said, looking puzzled, "But he showed me a photo…"

"My dad's name is Castiel," Ciara said, matter-of-factly.

The old lady's scowl returned. "Oh," she said, "That explains so much."

"Nathaniel is my step-dad," Ciara said, grinning, "He married my mom last year."

Her scowl was replaced with a look of confusion. "Excuse me?" she said.

She shrugged. "I got a class to go to," Ciara said, "You can ask him about it." Ciara skated past her, too fast for her stop her.

"Come back here, young lady!" she called after her, although Ciara's skating didn't falter. She turned a corner and stopped at her locker, opening it easily on her first try. She put in her skateboard when someone suddenly came up behind her, grabbing her shoulders. She wasn't startled.

"Louis, you're not cool," she said, setting down her bag and unzipping it.

"Man," he said, leaning against the locker beside her as he ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, "I've been trying to scare you since like fifth grade. Why can't you be a normal girl?"

She shrugged, stuffing the rest of her toast in her mouth. "I don't want to be a normal girl," she muttered, "I hate normal girls."

"I always wondered why you were friends with Alice," he said.

"I like her because she's not normal," Ciara said, grinning, "If she makes other friends, then forget her."

Louis chuckled as she gathered everything she needed, closing her locker.

"Let's see," she said, "I have first period English with Mister Faraize."

"Good luck," he said, "Don't flunk your classes."

"No promises," she said as she entered her class. Alice, who was her only female friend, smiled from a seat in the back, gesturing to the empty seat beside her. Ciara sat down and let her eyes wander to Alice's doodles. The way she drew them reminded her of her Aunt Celeste. Of course she wasn't her aunt by blood, but she liked to refer to her as her aunt.

After school, Ciara feverishly gathered her things from her locker and skated out of the building. She pushed past some boys she didn't like as her gaze found her father—her real father.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed, grinning as she threw herself in his arms. Castiel held her tightly, lifting her off her feet.

"I missed you, baby," he greeted.

"Aw, look, Cici's a daddy's girl," one of the guys she had just pushed past minutes ago said. Castiel set her down and she held up a finger to him.

"One sec," she said, turning and skating back to the guy who'd spoken before punching him in the gut. Grinning, she returned to Castiel's side. He smirked proudly before ruffling her hair.

"That's my girl," he said before climbing into the driver's seat. Ciara hopped into the passenger's seat with her skateboard.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"What do you say we go to the mall?" he suggested, "I'll buy you anything you want."

She grinned. "Awesome," she said, "I heard they opened a new sub shop in the food court."

He chuckled without another word. The drive to the mall was quick as Ciara absentmindedly gazed out the window. She left her skateboard before leading the way inside, going straight into one of the punk stores. She picked out numerous outfits which Castiel paid for without a second thought; that was basically how it went as she stopped at the occasional kiosk and other stores before finally settling down to eat something.

"I'm going to take you back to mom's house," he said, "That way you can get your homework done and then come back to my house."

She narrowed her eyes skeptically at him. "Did she put you up to this?" she said. He smiled sheepishly, looking as if he was a child caught stealing cookies. She sighed. "Okay, fine," she said, "It's all that stupid first day crap anyways. You know, the get-to-know-you stuff? Oh, I met the principle today. She thought I was related to my other dad by blood and she looked like she had high expectations for me; that is, until I told her that you're my real dad. Then she got all disappointed." He chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"She knew me almost as well as she knew mister president," he said, "I was the kid who was always in the office for some reason or another."

"That's going to be me this year," Ciara sighed, "I could tell by the way she yelled at me just for skateboarding in the halls."

He gave her a reassuring smile before saying, "Listen, Cici, I want you to do well in high school, okay? Don't get in too much trouble, but don't be afraid to beat anybody who tries to mess with you."

"You know I will," she said, "But did mom give you like a script or something?"

"No, this time it's me talking," he said, "You don't have to get straight A's, but I just want you to do well. A lot of doors will be opened to you."

"I know, I know," Ciara said, "I have this talk with mom like every week."

"She's on to something," he said, winking, "Now come on, kiddo, let's get you home, okay?"

She nodded before tossing out the food and following him outside to the car.

Ciara had arrived just in time to not be heard by anybody. Without a word, she went straight to the kitchen, throwing together a sandwich and leaning against a counter when she heard her parents' voices.

"I know she's not my real daughter," he said, "but that doesn't mean I can't worry about her. I don't really want her to stay with him so often after what you told me."

Ciara's curiosity was sparked and she leaned forward, listening closer.

"I don't see anything wrong with it," Maya said, "He's only drinking when she's not around. He's been doing this since the wedding; if it hasn't affected her yet, I don't think it will. Castiel isn't stupid; he knows not to get drunk with Ciara around."

Drunk? Castiel drinks? Ciara's brow furrowed as she continued listening.

"He could," Nathaniel said, "I don't trust him and I don't care how much time I've been forced into spending with him these past couple of years. I still think he's no good and he's definitely not a good influence on Ciara."

"He's not drinking around her," Maya protested, "She would've said something by now, don't you think? He's not influencing her negatively if she's not seeing it happen."

"I still don't think it's safe for her to stay there," he said, "How do we know he's not just going to drop her off here and then go get drunk off his ass?"

"Look, Nathaniel," Maya said, "I appreciate that you're worried about her but she's my and Castiel's daughter, okay? Just trust my judgment."

Nathaniel, being as submissive a husband as he is, didn't give a reply. But what just happened? Ciara pondered what to think as she nibbled on her sandwich. Were they planning on keeping her from going to Castiel's house anymore? Her heart thudded at the thought. Clearly, Nathaniel was just overreacting… right?

After homework, Maya drove Ciara back to Castiel's house, speaking hardly a word. She clearly had her mind elsewhere.

"Hey, mom?" Ciara said, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" she answered.

"Is something wrong?"

Maya kept her gaze forward, leaning her head down a little so that her hair hid her face. "Nothing… really. Why?"

"You're acting funny," she said. She didn't mention the conversation she'd overheard earlier.

Maya shook her head quickly. "Just a bit tired," she said, "I stayed up late for your dad last night."

Ciara gazed at her mother skeptically but didn't press the matter any further. The rest of the drive was silent until she pulled in to Castiel's driveway.

"Ciara," Maya said. Ciara knew that when her mother called her by her first name instead of her nickname that the conversation was going to be serious.

"Yeah?" Ciara said, reaching for the door handle.

"If you ever see Castiel doing something he shouldn't be," she said slowly, "please tell me, okay?"

Ciara raised a single brow before nodding and hugging her mother goodbye. She hurried off to the front door as her mother pulled out the driveway and left, slowly, as if she was waiting to see Castiel. The door opened and Castiel had her in a bear hug the next second that left her giggling and returning the hug.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Nah," she answered, "I ate dinner at mom's house before I left.

He stepped aside, allowing her to hurry inside. She plopped down on the couch, just being here giving her warm memories as her father took a seat beside her, tucking her under his arm as he let her choose what to watch.

"So now that you're in high school," he said, "do you talk to a lot of boys?"

She chuckled at the protective tone to his voice before nodding. "Not like that, though," she said, "I just have a lot of guy friends since I don't really get along with most girls. I have one friend that's a girl though."

"No boyfriends?" he asked.

She shook her head. "All the guys at my school are either in the friend-zone or are gross," she said.

"Good," he said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her head, "because you're still my baby girl." He paused, looking thoughtful before saying, "But then again, you'll always be my baby girl."

Ciara giggled. "Promise?" she said.

He gave her a tender smile before saying, "I promise."

Ciara yawned and stretched, getting up at the sound of her alarm. She got to her feet and washed up, getting ready quickly. She reached for her doorknob and cracked it open when she heard Castiel's voice. He was on the phone with someone.

"Yeah, I know," he said, "I can go in a few hours." Pause. "Now? I'm sorry; I have some work to do."

'_Work?'_ Ciara thought, grimacing. Who was he talking to that he needed to refer to his own daughter as work?

"I promise I'll be free around six or seven," he said before pausing and continuing, "I work during the day, babe, you know I can't."

'_Babe?'_ she thought, _'Who is he talking to?'_

"Yeah, yeah," he said, "Listen, are you on the pill? I don't really feel like wearing the glove today."

Ciara narrowed her eyes, stifling a gag. As if she didn't know the slang terms for birth control and condoms…

"Okay, baby, I'll see you then," he said. She peeked out to see that he'd hung up his phone as she brought the strap of her bag to her shoulder. Having lost her appetite, she stepped out of her room and headed straight for the door.

"Let's go," she said.

Something about that conversation was a little off. Although she didn't like the fact that he was sleeping around with people, she also didn't like the fact that he was lying about her. Was he ashamed? Did he wish he never had a daughter to begin with? The thought brought an ache to her heart like she never felt before. Although she loved her mother, Castiel was her best friend. She could open up to her mother and tell her secrets, but she could describe her entire day in detail to Castiel and he wouldn't lose interest. If everything he had told her she was to him was a lie, then what exactly was she? Not just to him, but to anybody. He was the whole reason she could be confident; the whole reason she could so easily defend herself and put herself above everyone else—except him, of course.


	2. Chapter 2

After school, Ciara went straight to her room without even a glance at Castiel. She sat on her bed, fiddling her thumbs as she thought. Should she call her mother to come and get her and run away from the tension that he'd unknowingly placed or should she stay and pretend she never heard the phone call in the morning? She decided on the latter, getting to her feet and listening to her stomach growl.

"Hey dad?" she said when she stepped out of her room, "I'm hungry."

"I'm a little busy," he said, fiddling with his phone, "Can you make yourself a sandwich or something?"

She gave him a pout which went unnoticed. Her pout transformed into a sneer before she returned to her bedroom, closing the door and leaning against it.

"Stupid," she muttered. She wasn't referring to herself or Castiel; she was referring to this whole thing. He wasn't busy. She knew that much. She stepped back out of her room. "Dad, I got a lot of homework today," she said, "I'm going to call mom."

"Wait," he said, looking up from his phone, "can you do me a favor?"

Her eyes narrowed. "What?" she asked.

"Can you go into the freezer in the basement and get out the six-pack?" he asked.

"Six-pack of what?" she said, crossing her arms.

"There's only one kind of six-pack down there," he answered, returning his gaze to his cell phone.

She sighed, approaching the basement door and descending the stairs. Her gaze found the freezer easily and she opened it and used her head to keep the lid up. Her gaze fell on the contents of the freezer and she bit her lip. All of it was beer. So this was what Maya and Nathaniel's conversation was about. She pulled out a six-pack by the plastic and set it on the top of the cooler before leaning against it and taking out her cell phone. She dialed her mother's number and pressed to phone to her ear. It wasn't long before she heard an answer.

"Yeah, hey, mom," she said, "Can you come pick me up from dad's house?"

"Why?" she asked without hesitation.

"Homework," Ciara said and it wasn't a lie; she really did have homework.

"Okay, honey, I'll be right there," she said. Ciara hung up the phone and returned it to her pocket, gathering the six-pack in her hands and skipping up the stairs. She dropped it in his lap and hurried into her room without so much as a glance back. She got her bag and her skateboard and hurried to go wait on her porch. Not only did she avoid saying a word to her father, it seemed he was also avoiding saying a word to her. Her thoughts wandered back to yesterday. Everything was so perfect; what happened to that? The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a farewell kind of thing. She sighed, fidgeting restlessly on the porch until her mother's car finally pulled into the driveway. She hurried into the passenger's seat and buckled herself in.

"What's this?" Maya said, "No waiting inside? No goodbye hug? No saying 'I love you more' until I get annoyed with you guys?"

Ciara shrugged. "He's busy," she said.

Maya's brow furrowed as she set the gear to reverse. "That's weird," she said, "He's never too busy for his little girl; or so I thought."

"I don't know," she said.

"Do you remember what I told you yesterday?" Maya asked.

"Yes, mom," Ciara said, "My memory's not that bad."

"Did anything happen?" she asked. Her tone was grave again, like yesterday, and when Ciara's gaze found her, her hair covered her face.

"No," Ciara managed to say.

"I see," she said. She began driving before asking, "How was your day at school?"

"It was okay," she said, "One kid at lunch told me I eat too much so I gave him a black eye."

Maya couldn't help but smile. "You'll get in trouble if you're caught," she said.

"I know," Ciara said, "but dad told me to defend myself."

"Well, at least it's better than being a pushover," she said, shrugging.

After dinner, Ciara helped with the dishes before sitting beside Nathaniel on the couch, watching television.

"Is this Law and Order?" she asked, "Oh, I love this show."

Nathaniel didn't give much of a response besides glancing at her. He did that a few more times before finally speaking.

"What did you do at your dad's house?"

It was hardly ever that he called Castiel 'your dad', but when he did it was usually because he wanted to have a real conversation.

"We went to the mall yesterday," she answered, "He got me some clothes and then today we didn't really do anything."

"You didn't happen to see or hear him doing something he shouldn't have been, did you?" he asked.

"Uh, no," she said, "I had this talk with mom."

Nathaniel's arms crossed and a skeptical look crossed his face. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes," Ciara said, a little bit too quickly, "I'm sure."

He sighed, clearly still not buying it. "Okay," he said, "I'll take your word for it but if something happens, nobody wants you to get hurt, okay? So don't keep it all bottled up then."

Ciara simply nodded, pretending to focus harder on the show so he would stop asking questions.

The next morning, Ciara dressed herself and had breakfast before skateboarding to school, like usual, only slowing when she arrived. She half skated, half walked as she gazed around at everybody. Everything seemed so… normal. But then again why shouldn't it? She heaved a sigh just before roughly bumping shoulders with someone.

"Watch it," she snapped angrily.

"What's up with you?" the guy she bumped into retorted, "Did daddy and his little princess get into a fight?"

She punched him in the gut as hard as he could and he hunched over, holding himself. "Do you _want_ to fight me?" she said, cracking her knuckles, "Because I'm definitely up for it."

He coughed and caught his breath before standing up straight again. "I normally don't hit a girl," he said, "but I don't think you qualify as a girl."

A crowd was beginning to gather but Ciara couldn't care less. She tugged at the fingerless gloves on her hands before smirking. "Get ready to bleed," she said angrily. She swung her fist towards him and hit him in the face which caused him to stumble a few steps back before he approached her again and hit her in the stomach. She winced, holding herself before kneeing him between his legs. He grasped his pants, falling to his knees. "Want some more, asshole?" She began kicking him repeatedly until someone pulled her off of him and one of the guy's friends helped him to his feet. The person pulling her only let go just at the fringes of the crowd before jumping in front of her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice clear and smooth like silk.

Ciara nodded, wiping the corner of her lip as she gazed into his honey eyes. "He pissed me off," she muttered, "It doesn't help with the day I had."

"Alright well you should calm down," he said, "If the principle finds out, you'll get in trouble."

"I know, I know," she said, pushing past him, "I have a class to get to."

Ciara sighed deeply as she arrived at her locker. Thankfully, there was no raging principle after her; at least not yet. She opened her locker and put away the books for the classes she had homework in the night before, retrieving the things she needed for her first few classes and stuffing them in her bag before putting away her skateboard. Spinning around, she turned to see a worried Louis.

"What?" she said, furrowing her brow.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She cracked her knuckles. "Do you want a go too?" she snapped, "I'm fine. There's really nothing you need to worry about."

"If you say so," he said, shrugging, "but if you need to talk…"

"Blah, blah, blah," she muttered, pushing past him and going to her first class. She plopped down in the back, sighing. She was just having a bad day; there was nothing for him to get so worked up about.

The one kid with the brown hair from after the fight stepped into the classroom, handing the teacher a note. Mister Faraize read it before gesturing to the class, which was nearly full except for the back row; people didn't like sitting next to Ciara and Alice.

"Sit wherever," Mister Faraize said. The kid's honey gaze swept the class before sighing and taking the seat beside Ciara; it was either beside her or Alice and he chose the one he knew better, which was next to nothing. "Alright," Mister Faraize said, "we're going to do a project on the book you were assigned for summer reading." He received a collective groan from the class at his statement. "It will help you get to know your classmates better, since it's a group project. You must partner up with two other people. Buddy up now so I can tell you what the project is."

Alice grinned at her and Ciara gave her a nod. "Who's going to be our third?" Alice asked.

Ciara turned to see that the kid who had broken up her fight in the morning was leaning back in his chair, almost daring someone to approach him. She fight back the smile that came up at his aloof exterior that almost made her want to know what the interior was like as she poked him with her pencil.

"We need a third," she said, "You need a couple, so let's group." He shrugged, turning towards them in his chair. "Okay, first," she said, "I'm Cici and this is Alice."

"Anthony," he said.

"Okay, then we have our group," Ciara said. Mister Faraize gave them a few more minutes before standing in front of the class again.

"I'm assuming you all have your groups," he said, "So the assignment is to do a complete character analysis. I'll be handing out an outline, but you're definitely going to need a book for this so if you don't have one, I have spares."

Ciara pulled her book out of her bag, sighing. "I don't really like any of the characters," she muttered, "Linda was a tool, Claire was boring, Lance was egotistical and Renée was pathetic."

"I didn't read the book," Anthony said.

"I liked all of the characters!" Alice said, grinning, "You have to be more optimistic, Cici. Linda was trying to be helpful, Claire was mature, Lance was independent and Renée was a widow!"

"Whatever you say," Ciara muttered, "Since I don't like any of them and Anthony hasn't read the book, it's up to you, Alice. Who do you want to do the project on?"

Alice tapped her chin, thoughtfully. "I think Linda would be interesting," she said, "No, no, wait I want to do it on Lance… but wait, Renée is my favorite! No I mean Claire is! Ah!" She yelped and put her fingers on her temples.

"It's okay, then I'll choose," Ciara said, "Let's just do it on Lance. Out of all of the characters, he was the one I liked the most even though I didn't like him."

"Okay, great," Alice beamed, "Can I see your book? I'll start writing down facts." Ciara handed over the book and Alice buried her nose in it, carefully scanning for facts.

"Is she okay?" Anthony mouthed and Ciara laughed.

"Yeah, she's always like that," she said, "You get used to it."

"Alright," he said, "I'll read the book tonight and then we can start on the project tomorrow."

"Sounds good," she said.

After school, Ciara skateboarded outside to see her mother parked, ready to pick her up. She slowed her skateboard, her curiosity sparked as she approached Maya.

"Mom," she said, "what are you doing here? You don't usually pick me up."

"I know," her mother said, "but we're going to your dad's house today, to visit. Hop in."

"Okay," Ciara said, climbing into the passenger's seat.

"How was school?" Maya asked as she began driving.

Ciara shrugged. "It was okay," she said, "I got a stupid English project on this stupid book and I got into a fight."

"A fight?" Maya said, "With who?"

"This guy who thinks he's cool," Ciara muttered, rolling her eyes.

"It was a boy?" Maya said, "Cici, I don't think you should be fighting so much."

"People just annoy me," she said, shrugging, "It doesn't matter that he was a boy, I beat him anyways."

"Okay, let's make a deal," Maya said, "I'll give you five bucks every day that you don't get into a fight unless someone hits you first."

"Ten," Ciara bartered.

"Eight," Maya said, "No more, no less."

"Fine," Ciara said.

"Okay, honey," Maya said once they were beginning to near Castiel's house, "Go knock on the door, let him know that I'm with you and ask him if he wants to do something for dinner with us."

"Alright," Ciara said.

Maya pulled into the driveway and parked the car before Ciara hopped out, approaching and climbing the porch stairs. She gave the door a knock and it wasn't long before Castiel answered.

"Mom's in the car," Ciara said, "She wants to know if you want to do something for dinner."

"Sure," he said, peeking around her and waving at the car, "I'll take you both out. Go to your room and get ready to go."

"Alright," she said, skirting him. She couldn't help but notice the eye drops on the table and the way his speech was a bit slurred as she approached her bedroom. She closed the door and took out an outfit to change into, tossing it on her bed when she heard her mother's voice.

"Castiel, is something wrong?"

"Everything's wrong," he answered and behind the door, Ciara could tell that there was a difference in his speech, "Nathaniel isn't right for you. You need to be with me."

"Castiel," Maya said slowly, "are you… drunk?"

"It doesn't matter," he said and his voice was closer to her door; he was in the living room, "Come here, Maya."

There was a pause before Maya's voice said, "Castiel, what are you doing? Get off of me!"

Ciara cracked open the door to see that Castiel had Maya pinned down on the couch and he was pulling off her clothes forcibly and she was struggling in his grasp but failing.

"Dad, stop!" Ciara exclaimed.

"No, Ciara!" her mother snapped, "Get back in your room! Do _not_ come out here, close your door and lock it."

"Yeah, little girl," Castiel said, tossing a glass on the table at her door but she had closed it too quickly for him so that it shattered against the door. She cracked it open again, longing to do something, anything, to stop him but what could she do? She couldn't bring herself to physically hurt him, no matter what, and there was no talking sense into him, clearly. So what could she do? Just stand here and watch? Even if she closed the door, she would hear everything; but still, hearing was better than seeing. So she did as she was told and closed the door slowly, caving in on herself until she was lying on the ground in a fetal position.

"I won't cry," she whispered to herself, "I won't cry."

Crying wasn't something Ciara was fond of and, excluding the accident she'd had a couple years back with her ex-boyfriend and Nathaniel, she hadn't cried since she was in a diaper and yet here she found tears welling in her eyes and she did her best to fight them away. But how could that even be possible? Her mother was in the next room being raped by her father. Fighting back tears would be one of the most difficult things she'd ever done. Eventually she gave in and the tears spilled down her cheeks in a waterfall of fear and remorse, dripping down on to the floor. She was crying.


	3. Chapter 3

Ciara jerked awake and found herself wrapped in a pair of slender arms. She began trembling as the memories of what happened all came rushing back, scanning her surroundings. Maya was the one who was beside her in her bed, holding her tightly. Maya's eyes were shut tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Mom," she whispered, wiping the tears with her hands before pulling her mother into a tight hug, "Mom, are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

Her mother only held her tighter, shaking her head. "Don't worry, okay, Cici?" she murmured, "Don't worry about a thing. You're okay, and that's the only thing that matters now."

"No, it's not," Ciara said quietly, "I'll only be okay if you're okay."

"Don't say that," Maya said.

"It's true," Ciara said before sitting up, "Mom, let's go home. I don't ever want to come back here again."

Maya sat up as well, slipping out of bed and shakily walking towards the door and peering out. She thoroughly gazed around before helping Ciara gather some of her belongings that she normally took home with her and then they hurried outside, unseen or unheard. It was still dark out; it was around four in the morning but she wasn't even thinking about school. She was only thinking of her mother; all she felt was sympathy and the strongest urge to take care of her own mother. Otherwise, she was just numb. What was she supposed to feel after watching something as horrible as she did? She climbed into the passenger's seat as her mother, still trembling, started the car and began pulling out.

"Ciara," her mother said, "do not tell Nathaniel about this; about any of this."

"Why not?" Ciara demanded.

"Because," Maya said, "he might do something stupid."

Ciara disagreed, thinking that whatever Nathaniel could do to Castiel would be worth it but she didn't protest as they drove home.

"Ciara," Maya said again, "has Castiel ever done anything like this to you?"

"No," she said honestly.

"Has he ever gotten drunk around you? Or done anything bad to you at all?" she asked.

"No," Ciara answered.

"Okay," she said.

"What should we tell dad if he asks why we got home so late?" Ciara asked.

"Tell him we got caught up in something," she said, "Tell him we were watching movies and lost track of time."

"Okay," Ciara said. They finally pulled in to their driveway and Ciara helped Maya inside and to her room before whispering, "Get some rest, mom. You need it." Maya kissed her daughter's forehead before climbing carefully into bed beside Nathaniel.

"Goodnight," she whispered.

"Night," Ciara replied before going to her own bedroom and climbing into bed. Somehow, she couldn't sleep; she was terrified. She knew it wouldn't happen but at the same time she kept imagining Castiel barging in and doing something terrible again, even though he was probably passed out in his room and if he did wake up, he'd be too hung over to come here just to sabotage them.

She sighed, pulling the blanket up to her nose and burying her face into it, squeezing her eyes shut and begging herself not to cry. That couldn't have happened. Maybe it was just a nightmare; there's no way her gentle, sweet, loving father could have ever done something that horrible. No, no, not him. Was that really the same guy who reminded her day after day that what other people thought didn't matter? Or the same guy who took her to an amusement park a couple of years ago when she was sad because of her mother grounding her? Or the same guy who taught her that she was her own person and she always needed to be happy with it? The list went on and on but the more she thought about it, the harder she had to try not to cry.

She suddenly didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be near her hurting mother or her unknowing step-father and she didn't want to be left alone in this dark bedroom with her painful thoughts. She wished with everything she had that she could just be somewhere else, where she could forget about Castiel and what happened, and pretend that everything in the world was okay. She had half a mind to pack her things and hop out of her window and run until her legs both gave away beneath her, but she knew running away would kill her mother and the last thing she wanted was to hurt her even more.

"Ciara, wake up."

It was Nathaniel's voice who was invading Ciara's precious dreams. Her eyes fluttered open and she found him standing in the doorway.

"You slept in," he said, "You're gonna be late."

"Is mom awake?" Ciara asked, sitting up.

"Yes," he said, "she's making breakfast. Hurry and get ready so she can give you a ride. You'll be late."

She nodded, getting to her feet and quickly preparing for school. It didn't take her long to wash up and pull on some jeans and a t-shirt, before combing her hair a bit and then going to the kitchen. Her mother seemed fine. Everything seemed fine. Everything seemed so normal; almost so normal that it hurt.

"Do you want honey on your toast?" Maya asked, flashing Ciara a brilliant smile. Was this an act?

"Uh, yeah," Ciara said slowly.

Ciara ate just as slowly as she was speaking, trying to comprehend what was happening. Was it possible that it was all just some awful nightmare? No, it was too real...

Her mother met her gaze and said, "Let's go now so you won't be late."

Ciara could see it now. It was an act. She could see the dull look in her eyes, and she had only known her mother the past 14 years, meanwhile Nathaniel had known her much longer, yet he hadn't caught on. Ciara nodded, sliding out of her chair and quickly eating her breakfast.

"You're quiet today," Nathaniel said, gazing at Ciara.

"She went to sleep late last night," Maya said, "She's probably just tired." She turned to Ciara and said, "Let's go, honey."

Ciara nodded and followed her mother outside and the second she stepped outside, she could see the change in her mother's face. She looked exhausted and her eyes looked dead; the thought of what she must be thinking killed Ciara inside.

In the car, Ciara gazed worriedly at her mother. "Mom, are you okay?"

Maya took a long time to respond. It seemed she was wondering what to say; whether she should tell her the truth or protect her daughter.

"I don't really know," Maya said slowly, "I think... I'll be okay."

"Okay," Ciara said.

"Tonight, after school," Maya said, "I'm taking you to your dad's house."

Ciara's jaw fell as the words slowly sunk in before she shot her mother a glare. "No," she said, "I'm not going. I don't want to see him ever again."

"You still love him," Maya said, "He won't hurt you."

"Why do you want me to go there?" Ciara said, "What if he does hurt me?"

"Nathaniel doesn't know what happened," she said, "If you stop going, he'll know something's up. Castiel is your father. I don't want you to feel deprived of your real father. He treated you right; without him, I already know you'd be a completely different person."

"I don't need him," Ciara said, "I'd rather have my step-dad be my pretend real-dad. We did that for years, didn't we?"

"Even then, Castiel was still a huge part in raising you," Maya said, "I know for sure that you won't be happy if you don't go to his house."

"I won't be happy if I go either," Ciara snapped.

"You have to go, Ciara," Maya said, "He's a part of you. He was always the 'fun' parent and he taught you everything you would need to know."

"I do not want to go," Ciara said.

"You're going," Maya said, "End of discussion."

"Why are you doing this?" Ciara said, "Do you really hate me that much that you want to put me in danger?"

"I'm not putting you in danger," Maya said, "I'm protecting you. Nathaniel and I are always busy; we're always doing something. Castiel was the only one who ever really spent a lot of quality time with you. I don't want you to know the feeling of having no one to talk to or spend time with at home. It's the same as being completely alone."

"Why don't you do that then?" Ciara fumed.

"I told you, I'm always busy," she said, "I need you to go. You need to do this. For me, okay?"

Ciara sighed. There was no talking her way out of this. What was she supposed to do there? Even if he was perfectly sober and everything, it would be insanely awkward, considering what she saw him doing to her own mother.

Maya dropped her off at school, and Ciara sluggishly went to her first class, already late. Mister Faraize said nothing, however, as she approached her seat between Alice and Anthony in the back of the room.

"What are we doing?" she asked them, the tiredness of her lack of sleep from the night before hitting her.

"We're working on our projects," Anthony answered.

"Why are you late?" Alice asked.

"Oh, I slept in," Ciara said with a wave of her hand. Alice returned to her work but Anthony's brow was raised, however he said nothing.

After school, Ciara had a lump in her throat the size of her fist as she gazed around for her mother's car.

"Are you okay?" Anthony's voice said behind her suddenly, startling her.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," she said.

"You've been kinda off today," he said, "Did something happen?"

"No, really," Ciara said, giving him a reassuring smile that he didn't buy.

"Cici!"

Maya's voice calling her name gave her the urge to cry. She turned to see her parked in the parking lot, sticking her head out of the window.

"I gotta go," Ciara told Anthony, "See you tomorrow, I guess."

"See you," he said almost reluctantly.

She approached her mother's car, her heart sinking further with each step. She didn't want to go.

"Wait, Ciara," he said, giving her arm a gentle tug. She turned and he handed her a small slip of paper with a phone number scribbled on to it. "Here's my number," he said, "Call me if… if you need any help with your part of the project."

Something about his words felt off; like he was lying. She nodded anyway, stuffing the slip of paper into her pocket before approaching her mother again, feeling a bit lightheaded. Maya waved, a smile on her face as Ciara approached.

"How was school?" she asked as Ciara climbed into the passenger's seat.

"Who cares?" Ciara said, "Do you expect me to care about school when all I can think about is you driving me to the house of a lunatic."

"He's not a lunatic," she said, "He was drunk when it happened. I called ahead; you don't have to worry, he's not drunk this time."

"You talked to him?" Ciara said, wrinkling her nose at that.

"Yes," she said, "He apologized repeatedly and promised to take me out to make up for it."

"Wow," Ciara said, "Hey, mom, I think you might have forgotten, but you're married. You're not really supposed to go on dates with other guys, especially not drunken rapists."

"It's not a date," she said, "We're good friends. And he's not a drunken rapist. He's just going through a… rough patch, I guess, in his life."

"He has a girlfriend," Ciara said, "I heard him on the phone with her. They were kind of flirting but he was being disrespectful and he was talking about sex."

There was a long pause before Maya said, "Maybe you misunderstood what they were talking about."

"_Hey babe, I got a lot of work to do today so we'll meet up later, and make sure you're on the pill because I don't wanna wear a glove,_" Ciara said in a deep, mocking voice, imitating Castiel.

"He said _that?_" Maya said in disbelief, "He actually has a girlfriend?"

"Did you expect him to be hung up on you for that long?" Ciara said with an eye roll.

"Don't be so disrespectful," Maya said, giving Ciara a glare.

"Why does it matter?" Ciara said, "You don't care about me. If you did, you would be trying to keep me away from that monster, not bringing me to him."

Maya sighed. "Ciara," she said softly, "I don't really know what to tell you. When I first got pregnant with you, you weren't expected. I was stressed out; I didn't want Nathaniel to know that during our… _break_, I had slept with Castiel. Plus I was young, I had all these dreams and because of my pregnancy, I had to give them up. But Castiel helped me. He was okay with you not knowing that he was your real father. He loved you so much before you were even born. Before you were born, while I was pregnant, he slept with his head on my belly where you were all the time just to be close to you. He loved you to death and he would have done anything for you. When you were young, he spoiled you rotten. I do love you and care about you, I always have, and that's why I want you to be with him. I know that he loves you too, and he deserves as much as to see you, especially since he's helped me so much. One mistake shouldn't change that."

"One mistake?" Ciara said, "That wasn't a mistake. That was raping his daughter's mother in front of her. Do you know what it felt like to hear the whole thing happening? Mom, why aren't you affected by this? Last night, you looked ready to jump off a cliff and now you're pushing me to him."

"There's no arguing with me," Maya said, "You're going."

Ciara sighed, leaning against the window, feeling as if there were weights in her chest. "I would rather be dead," she said.

Maya said nothing as they pulled into Castiel's driveway. "Go," she said sternly.

"I might as well," Ciara said, pushing the door open, "If no one else cares about me, why should I?" Maya only sighed as Ciara hopped out and slammed the door behind her.

Maya's car was already on the street once Ciara was standing in front of the door. How would she confront him? She didn't want to see him. She slowly lifted her hand and knocked on the door.

"One sec," she heard him call and a few moments later, the door opened. He looked exhausted; his hair was messed up and he was still in his greasy pajamas.

"Oh, you're here," he said, "Is it three o'clock already?"

"Yeah," she said slowly, giving her eyes a roll and gazing at the floor.

"Um, come in," he said, stepping aside and letting her inside. She stepped in cautiously. "If you're hungry, the kitchen's all yours," he said and she rolled her eyes, facing away from him. "Do you want to do something?" he asked, "We could watch a movie or something."

"I don't want to watch a movie with you," she said, "I don't want to do anything with you. I don't even want to be here; I was forced."

She looked back at him to see that he didn't seem to care, gesturing to the door. "There's the door then," he said before passing her towards his bedroom.

She grimaced before taking his advice and pushing the door open and slamming it behind her.

"_He always loved and cared about you,"_ she muttered in a mocking voice, "Yeah, right, mom…"


	4. Chapter 4

Ciara marched down the stairs, a pout on her lips as she walked the opposite direction her mother had just drove. She slipped her cell phone out of her pocket and looked through her contacts before stopping at Anthony and giving him a call.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey, Anthony, it's Ciara," she said.

"Oh, hey," he said, "Did you need anything?"

"Yeah," she said, "do you wanna hang out for a while? I need something to do."

"Okay," he said, "but my cousins are over so my mom won't let me leave. Would you mind coming over?"

"That's fine," she answered. He gave her directions to his house and it wasn't more than a ten minute walk away, before she bounced up his porch stairs and gave his door a knock.

"Hey," Anthony said when he answered the door, stepping aside, "Come on in."

"Do your parents know I'm here?" she said, "I don't want to be a bother."

"You won't be," he said, "I let my mom know." He gestured her to follow him as he led her upstairs and into a bedroom, where two other boys were.

One of them had light brown hair and brown eyes. He was adorable and he looked about three years younger, with his short height and chubby cheeks. The other was gorgeous; almost as gorgeous as Anthony. He had blonde hair and deep blue eyes and he even looked friendly, like the kind of guy who would be super popular and have tons of friends at school.

"That's Jake," Anthony said, gesturing to the shorter brunette before gesturing to the gorgeous blonde, "And that's Dimitri. They're my cousins. Guys, this is Ciara."

"You can call me Cici," Ciara said, giving them a friendly smile each.

"It's nice to meet you," Dimitri said, sounding just as friendly as Ciara predicted.

"Anyways, Dimitri," Jake said without acknowledging her, "How in anyway would using that puny weapon be good?"

"You're rude," Dimitri said, "Say hi to Cici."

"Yeah, hi," Jake muttered with hardly a glance in her direction.

"I don't know," Dimitri said, "I just like it better. It's not really a big deal."

"What are you guys playing?" Ciara asked.

"They're playing COD," Anthony said, "They've been obsessing over it since they got here, hours ago before I even came home from school."

"Wow," Ciara chuckled, "Is it the new one? I've been dying to play that one!"

"You play video games?" Dimitri asked.

"Yeah, when I can," Ciara said, "Can I play?"

"Jake," Dimitri said, "Let Cici take your controller."

"No," he said.

"Do it," Dimitri said, although he wasn't being forceful; he seemed to have a very lighthearted attitude. "I know that if you play, you'll scar her for life," he said.

Jake sighed, handing Ciara his controller and Dimitri gave her a smile as she sat down on the floor beside him.

"You don't want to play a video game with Jake," Dimitri said, "He's a show-off winner and a sore loser. He'll become your worst enemy and I didn't want him to make a bad impression on you."

"Isn't that how gamer guys are?" she chuckled.

Dimitri chuckled as well. "I'm a gamer and I don't do that," he said.

"That's because you suck at every game you play," Jake teased.

"So, Cici," Anthony said, sitting on the bed, "why did you want to come over all of the sudden?"

"I just got into an argument with my dad," she said, under exaggerating it by millions, "That's all. I needed to get out of the house."

"Oh, alright," he said, "Then I hope you can get along with those two. I'm not worried about Dimitri since every girl on planet earth seems to get along with him but don't fight with Jake."

"I won't," she said, "I'm not that rude."

"I know," he said, "Just making sure. He can be difficult."

"Can you all stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Jake muttered, rolling his eyes.

Dimitri chuckled, nudging Ciara. "He's always like this," he said, "Don't take it personally."

After a few hours of taking turns playing games, Ciara was absolutely positive that she could be really good friends with Anthony, and Dimitri and Jake too. Once past his hard shell, he was pretty easy to get along with, so maybe he was more like Dimitri and Anthony than she originally thought. Ciara followed the three downstairs to get dinner.

"Oh, hello," a woman with hair the same color as Anthony's greeted, except it was down to her waist. She looked somewhere in her mid to late thirties, but she was still pretty with her big brown eyes and full, rosy lips. "You must be the friend that Anthony told me about," she said, "What's your name?"

"I'm Cici," she answered.

"Oh, does it stand for something?" she asked, "I'm Anthony's mother. You can call me mom."

"It stands for Ciara," Ciara said.

"Oh, Ciara is a pretty name," she said with a smile, "It's nice to meet you. You're not allergic to anything, are you?"

"No," Ciara answered.

"Okay, great," she said, "You four can go sit at the table, I'll bring you your food."

"Thank you," Ciara answered as she followed the boys into the dining room. It was empty and the table was a bit dirty so she guessed they had already eaten as she sat down beside Dimitri and Anthony.

"You know what I like about you?" Dimitri said, "Most girls are always complaining about something, especially if they're pretty, then they're usually annoying but you just go with the flow."

"Yeah," Ciara said, "A lot of guys tell me that which is why I usually end up just one of the guys. I've never actually had a real boyfriend before."

"You've never had a boyfriend?" Anthony said, sounding shocked on the other side of her. She giggled.

"No," she said.

"But you're so hot," Dimitri said, making her laugh.

"Thank you," she said, "but I'm really picky with boys. I won't date just anybody; I've gotten asked out plenty of times before but whenever I actually like a boy, I end up in the friend zone."

"Who would friend zone you?" Anthony said, still sounding shocked.

Dimitri gave her a flirty smile before saying, "I'll never friend zone you, Ciara."

She giggled, shaking her head. "I told you guys, I'm picky with boys," she said, "My standards are incredibly high and I don't know either of you well enough to like you."

"How well is well enough?" Dimitri asked, curiously.

"Well enough is we're like best friends, we talk all the time," she said, "I can tell you anything and I trust you and I love being around you."

"I already got her number," Anthony said with a smug smile to Dimitri, "How far are you?"

"I just met her like two hours ago," Dimitri chuckled.

"Do you want my number too, Dimitri?" Ciara said, "I wouldn't mind texting either of you."

Dimitri gave Anthony a grin, who playfully rolled his eyes before reaching over to the bookshelf behind him and pulling a pen out of a basket and handing it to her. She wrote her phone number on Dimitri's hand and gave him a smile.

"Now we're equal," Dimitri told Anthony.

"We'll see how long that lasts," Anthony said, "I go to school with her. We're doing a project together."

"You two must be really close," Ciara chuckled, "You're the only pair of guys I've ever met who argued over a girl and were friendly with each other about it."

"Well our mom's are twins," Anthony said, "So they're really close and he's always over. I'm kinda stuck with him."

"You love me," Dimitri teased.

Anthony's mother brought in some food for the three of us before hurrying back to converse with her sister.

"What did you argue with your dad about?" Anthony asked as he began eating.

"Oh, something stupid," she muttered stuffing a spoonful of her dinner in her mouth.

"Is it the same reason why you were upset after school?" Anthony asked, "Whatever it is, it's still upsetting you now."

She shook her head quickly. "Really, it's nothing," she said, "I don't want to bother you with my problems."

"You won't be bothering me," he said, "Honestly."

"Yeah," Dimitri said, "What's wrong, babe?"

"Do you really want to know?" she sighed.

"Yeah," they both said simultaneously.

"Alright, fine," she said, "By now, everyone at school knows I'm a daddy's girl, right? Well the whole reason I was born was because my mom and my step-dad were dating while they were young and they broke up for a week and during that week, my mom slept with my dad for comfort and she got pregnant. So my mom and my dad were never really together but they've always been close and I spend the night at my dad's house every other night and I guess my dad is in love with my mom or something, but she's married and she's in love with my step-dad and they got married like a year or two ago and apparently he's been drinking a lot since then and he's developing a drinking problem I think and we used to have a really strong, healthy relationship but lately, I just don't even want to see him because he's a drunk and my mom forced me to go to his house today even though I really didn't want to. So I went and he was making zero effort and he said we could watch a movie or something and if I was hungry I can make myself something and I told him I didn't want to do anything with him and he said well there's the door so I left and called you." She took a deep breath after speaking so quickly, purposely leaving out the rape.

"Aw, man," Dimitri said, "That's harsh. Why doesn't your step-dad do anything?"

"He doesn't know," she said, "My mom doesn't wanna tell him because she wants me to still go to his house every other day."

"Man," he said sympathetically, "you know, it might be hard but you should just try to go with the flow and not let it bother you as much as it does. Okay?"

"I'll try," she said, "but he _is_ my dad so it'll be hard…"

"I know," he said before smiling, "but now you have me to keep you company."

"And you had me before you knew Dimitri existed," Anthony beamed at her.

Dimitri gave him a playful glare and Ciara giggled.

They spent the rest of the night chatting away at the dinner table and she felt herself really getting closer to the both of them. Before they knew it, night had fallen and they still sat there, talking and getting to know each other.

"Man, it's late already," Dimitri said, checking the time on his cell phone, "I guess I'm sleeping over."

Anthony shrugged before they both gazed at Ciara. "Well, I should probably go back," she sighed.

"Are you gonna walk?" Anthony asked, "It's a little late for that."

"How else should I go back?" she asked.

"Don't," he said, "From the way your dad sounds, he's probably too drunk right now to notice if you didn't go home."

"Okay, sure," she said, "I'm sure both of our mothers would love to hear about how I'm one girl having a sleepover with two guys, that sounds perfectly acceptable."

"I think you should know that I don't share," Anthony said before continuing, "Anyway, they don't have to find out. My mom won't notice if we tell her you left and we sneak you upstairs and your mom won't know because you don't have to tell her."

"Where would I even sleep though?" she said, "I don't have a toothbrush and I don't have pajamas."

"You can sleep next to me," Anthony said with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. "In your dreams," she muttered.

He chuckled. "You can sleep next to me," he said, "or your other option is sleeping next to Dimitri. I mean unless you would rather sleep on the hardwood floor."

She sighed. "Are those really my options?" she asked.

Dimitri laughed. "Don't worry, Cici," he said, "Neither of us are gonna do anything to you. We're not like that; I mean not unless you wanted us to."

"Okay, fine," she said, "Here are the rules. Don't touch me; not my boobs or my waist or my legs. Don't even touch my shoulder. I'll sleep on one side of the bed and you'll sleep on the other. Face away from me while you sleep. Don't try to pressure me into anything, or I'll just leave and start walking home, even if it's four in the morning."

"Deal," they both said simultaneously.

"Where are you sleeping?" Dimitri asked.

"Which is more comfortable?" she asked.

"My bed," Anthony said, "Dimitri just sleeps on a mattress."

"His bed is more comfortable," he said, "but I'm a lot cooler than he is so you should sleep next to me." He grinned and Ciara chuckled.

"Okay, just give me something to wear to bed," she said.

"I'll steal some clothes from my mom," Anthony said, "Let's go upstairs."

Anthony led the way up, Ciara and Dimitri close behind and he gestured them to go into his bedroom while he went to get something for her to sleep in. Ciara plopped down on the bed, watching as Dimitri pulled a mattress out from under Anthony's bed and bed covers from the closet.

"What will we do in the morning?" she asked, "Won't Anthony's mom see me?"

"No," he said, "he walks so she's never awake when he gets up. I get a ride to school but my school starts half an hour later than yours does so my mom isn't awake until after you guys leave."

"Oh, alright," she said, just before Anthony opened the door and tossed a pair of sweat pants and a tank top at her.

"Go change in the bathroom," he said.

"Wait," she said, "um, this might sound awkward, but… can I shower?"

Dimitri and Anthony both grinned at each other as if the idea of her showering got them excited. "Yeah, sure," Anthony said.

She blushed. "Don't peek at me," she snapped, "or it'll be your head."

They both laughed. "We won't peek at you," Dimitri said honestly, "Promise."

She gazed at them skeptically before going to the bathroom and locking the door.

After showering, she unlocked the door, preparing to get dressed and return to the room when there was a light knock on the door.

"Cici," Dimitri's voice said quietly, "are you dressed?"

"No," she said.

"Cover yourself," he said quietly and she quickly wrapped her towel around her body and gave him an okay and he stepped inside, quietly closing the door behind him. "Anthony's mom asked him who was in the shower while I was in the other room," he explained, "so he told her it was me and she said she would be back to wish us both goodnight after she finished making her tea so I have to hide in here."

"Oh god," she muttered, "How am I supposed to get dressed?"

"I'll face away," he said.

"I don't trust you," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't trust any teenage boy when it comes to getting naked in front of them and trusting them not to look," she said.

"I won't," he said, "I promised I wouldn't peek, didn't I?"

She sighed. "Okay, turn around," she said, "I swear to god, Dimitri, if you peek…"

"Don't worry," he said.

"Okay," she said before taking off her towel and drying herself off quickly, keeping an eye on Dimitri as she did so. There was a knock on the door, startling her enough to jump, which caused Dimitri to look back to check if she was alright and she covered herself with her towel again, glaring at him. He blushed, looking away quickly.

"Yes?" he said shakily.

"Dimitri, it's me," Anthony's mother's voice said, "I just wanted to wish you goodnight before you go to bed."

"Goodnight," he answered.

"Love you," she said.

"Love you too," he answered, as if it were routine.

Ciara listened as Anthony's mother's footsteps disappeared down the stairs and she glared harder at Dimitri.

"You peeked," she said angrily.

"I didn't mean to, I swear," he said, careful to look away, "You got scared so I thought you slipped or something."

"Whatever," she said.

"I'll leave now," he said, reaching for the door.

"No," she said, "because I know you're just gonna go talk about it with Anthony and I need to keep an eye on you."

He chuckled at that without arguing as she dressed herself quickly, taking her clothes with her as they returned to the room. Anthony was lying in his bed texting as they entered and Dimitri closed the door, locking it.

"Today was a great day of skipping homework," Ciara said, clearing her throat as she got into bed, so that Anthony would scoot closer to the wall.

"Oh well," Anthony said.

"I did mine," Dimitri said with a smile.

"Shut up, you private school nerd," Anthony teased.

"You go to private school?" Ciara asked.

"Yeah, he does," Anthony said, "He wears a uniform and everything."

"Aw, that's nice," Ciara said, "I've always wanted to wear a uniform. Most people wouldn't want to though. But I mean, who wouldn't want to go to private school? You get taught so well and it probably looks amazing on a college application."

"I've always gone to private schools," Dimitri said, crossing his arms behind his head against the pillow, "Whenever Anthony struggles with his homework, I have to help him because most of the things he struggles with are so easy."

"Oh," she said with a grin, "intelligence is a turn on."

He winked at her with a grin before chuckling, "Good night, Cici."


	5. Chapter 5

Ciara jerked awake, feeling her phone vibrating underneath the pillow and she slipped it out to see that she was receiving a call from Castiel. She gazed at Dimitri, faced away from her on his side before gazing at Anthony behind her, who was also faced away from her by her orders; they were both sleeping soundly. She got to her feet and paced by the closet before answering the phone.

"Hello?" she whispered.

"Ciara," Castiel said, "where are you? Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you. Are you crazy?"

"No," she whispered, "Do you want me to apologize for leaving when you pretty much asked me to leave? Don't pretend to be worried. You're not worried about me, otherwise you wouldn't have told me to leave in the first place."

"Tell me where you are," he said, sounding like he was speaking through gritted teeth, "I need to know, Ciara. You're my daughter. Of course I'm going to worry when you just disappear. I was hung over and I wasn't in the mood for another bad mood."

"So stop getting drunk and that won't happen anymore," she replied, matter-of-factly, "And I'm at a friend's house. It's too late to come and get me. I'll be home in the morning to get ready for school. You can't even be mad at me; if you hadn't decided to be stupid and get drunk, none of this would have happened."

There was a long pause before the line went dead and Ciara sighed, wondering what else would come out of a conversation like that with a man like that. He was just hopeless. Ciara crawled back into bed, pulling the blanket up to her chin before burying her face in it, feeling desperate for help. All traces of tire had disappeared from her system as she felt the tears stream down her face and soak into Anthony's blanket, wishing things could just go back to the way they were.

With her eyes buried into the blanket as she quietly sobbed, she couldn't see who it was that took her hand, but when he said softly, "It will be okay. Everything will be okay. I promise." She recognized Anthony's voice without having to look up.

Ciara only shook her head, keeping her eyes closed and reaching up, letting him pull her into a tight hug, where she could cry into his shoulder instead.

"Wake up, Cici."

Ciara awoke to the sound of Dimitri's voice, her eyes fluttering open to see his bright smile illuminating the room. He looked as if he'd just awoken himself. She sat up, turning to see that Anthony was still asleep.

"Don't worry about him, he wakes up later," Dimitri said, "Anyway, let me take a quick shower and get my uniform on and then I'll take you back to your house."

"Walking?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered, "you know, I'd drive you but it would be illegal since I don't even have my temps yet. But since I can't, we can just walk, right?"

"Yeah, sure," she said before he pulled his uniform out of the closet and went into the bathroom.

Ciara got to her feet and curiously peered out; the hallway light was on but it was silent. She crept downstairs and gazed around. Her gaze found Jake sleeping on a pull-out couch and he was the only one downstairs she mentally pointed out before approaching a window with a view of the front yard and gazing out. It was still very dark outside, considering it was six in the morning and she was still tired but she didn't want to go home and see Castiel. What if he was awake? She sighed, nibbling nervously on her lip. Maybe he wouldn't be awake; he was up late last night, after all, having called at one in the morning, so maybe he was sleeping. He probably would be hung over again anyway.

She sighed again before returning upstairs to Anthony's room. He was fast asleep so she quickly changed back into the clothes she was wearing the night before before running her fingers through her hair until it was tolerable, just before Dimitri walked in.

"Okay, you're ready," he said, "Let's go so I can be back for my mom to take me to school."

Ciara nodded, approaching him and letting him lead the way outside. It was still a bit dark out but it wasn't like night anymore; the sun was rising.

"Okay, which way are we going?" he asked.

"My dad lives a few blocks away on Chesterland," she answered.

"Oh," he said, "He won't be up, will he?"

"Probably not," she said, "the only reason he would be awake is to drive me on school days but he probably passed out from getting too drunk. Even if he is awake, he probably has a hangover."

"Alright," he said, "No offense, but I just didn't want to run into him."

"I understand," she said, shrugging, "It's cool."

There was a long pause and Ciara felt gradually more exhausted, the closer they got to her father's house.

"You don't take long to get ready, do you?" he asked.

"No," she said, "Twenty minutes tops."

"Good," he said, "We need to be back before my mom gets up." There was another pause before he said, almost nervously, "So... do you... um..."

"Do I what?" she asked.

He smiled sheepishly before looking away and asking, "Do you have a preference yet between me and Anthony?"

She thought for a moment before answering, "I don't know. I've known Anthony longer but I really like talking to you. You're more charismatic than Anthony, and that's a big plus with me because I like it when we can keep the conversation going so, I think, right now I prefer you... but just a little. Don't tell Anthony."

He breathed a sigh of relief before saying, "Okay, I was just wondering. I won't tell him." He gave her a smile before continuing, "Anyway, you should definitely come over more often. I'm at Anthony's house pretty much every day; it's just that I don't sleep over every night."

"I'll probably be able to come over for a while today after school," she said, "I'm staying at my mom's house today so I have to be home by seven o'clock though."

"Oh, alright," he said, "We should do something instead of sitting inside all day long like we did yesterday. We could go to the mall."

Thinking of going to the mall gave her stomach knots, as she recalled the last time she went to the mall. It was virtually a perfect day that day; it was the last day she had a perfect dad.

"We don't have to go there," he said, studying her expression, "We could go somewhere else, if you don't wanna go there."

"Oh no it's fine," she said, "We could go anywhere you wanna go."

"Let's get some Chinese instead," he said with a smile, "There's this amazing place downtown."

"Great," she said, "That sounds good."

"Remember when you said you've never had a real boyfriend before?" he asked, "Have you ever like... dated someone? Without them being a real boyfriend?"

"Yeah, actually," she said, "I had this boyfriend a few years ago..."

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't really wanna talk about it," she said, "Sorry."

"It's fine," he said. Finally she was turning into her dad's driveway, leading Dimitri up to the front door and pulling it open.

The second she did, she saw her father pacing, looking like he hadn't slept all night and he looked sober, too without a hangover. He looked up at her and his eyes widened before he pulled her into a firm embrace.

"God dammit, Cici," he sighed, "I was worried sick about you. Don't ever do that to me again."

She stood there for a few moments in shock; when was the last time he gave her a hug this tight? Even before, his hugs were rarely this tight and it felt nice; she even considered hugging him back before remembering what he did and jerking away from him.

"Don't touch me," she said quickly, with wide eyes. Those were the same arms that defiled her mother.

"Cici," he said softly, "About what happened with your mom..."

"I don't want to talk about it," she said quickly, eager to steer clear of that subject in front of Dimitri, "Leave me alone, okay? I just came to get ready for school. I didn't come here to talk to you."

"I was drunk," he said as Ciara took Dimitri's wrist and pulled him towards her room.

"What a surprise," Ciara said sarcastically.

"Listen to me," Castiel said, pulling Ciara towards him by her shoulder.

"Dimitri," Ciara said, "you should go in my room."

"Wait," Castiel said, "was he the friend that you slept over with?"

"What's it to you?" she said, narrowing her eyes, "It's not your business."

He rolled his eyes, shooing Dimitri. "We'll discuss that in a minute," he said as Dimitri went into Ciara's bedroom and closed the door. "Ciara," he said, "it was an accident."

"You hurt her," she said, fighting back tears, "You defiled her. You don't care about her or me."

"Yes, I do," he said sternly, "Don't you dare say that."

"You've been treating me like crap lately," she said, "And you don't rape the people you care about, drunk or not."

"It wasn't really rape," he said, "and I've been occupied."

"How was it not rape?" she said, angrily, putting her hands on her hips, "I could hear the whole thing; she was yelling at you to stop."

"At first," he said, "And then she... got into it."

"You're disgusting," Ciara said, pushing away from him, "She would never do that."

"Don't walk away from me, Ciara," he said, pulling her back by her arm. "I love you and I love her," he said, "She could forgive me, so why can't you?"

"Because I trusted you," Ciara said, "Maybe she expected it but I didn't. I always thought you were the fun parent, the one that I could always rely on and trust with everything. You always made me feel better when I was upset, even if mom didn't notice that I was, you always would. You were my world and you threw it away. It's your own fault this happened."

He gazed down at the floor before releasing her arm. "You're right," he said slowly before approaching his own bedroom, "Have a good day at school, Cici."

She ignored him, returning to her bedroom. Dimitri looked confused. "I'm sorry," she said, "I'm really, really sorry; I honestly thought he wouldn't be up, otherwise I wouldn't have brought you here."

"It's okay, you didn't know," he said, considerately.

She took a deep breath before relaxing herself. "Okay, you can just chill in here," she said, "I'll get some clothes change in the bathroom."

He didn't object as she took an outfit out of her closet with a pair of black lace-up boots that went no further than the top of her ankles before hurrying to the bathroom and exfoliating and brushing her teeth. She changed into her clothes that she'd taken from her closet; a pair of cut-off daisy dukes and a Jack Daniel's t-shirt Celeste had bought her a while back. She tucked in the front before pulling on her socks and slipping her feet into her boots and returning to her room to quickly fix her hair.

"You look great," Dimitri complimented with a smile.

"Thanks," Ciara answered, "Let's hurry back to Anthony's place now."

He nodded and let her lead the way out. "We can stop and get some breakfast if you want," he said, "I have some money."

"Let me pay for myself," she said, turning to go get some money and he grabbed her arm, meeting her gaze.

"I'll pay for you," he said.

"It will be just a sec-…"

"I'll pay for you," he interrupted.

"You're not gonna give me a choice in this, are you?"

He chuckled. "No way," he said, "Let's go."

She sighed. "Fine, whatever," she said, "but I'll pay you back."

"You're not paying me back," he said, taking her wrist and pulling her along, "I'm treating you. You don't need to give me money or pay for yourself; I got it."

"I don't know whether to call you a jerk or to call you a sweetheart," she chuckled.

After school, Ciara found her mother's car out front and approached it.

"Cici," her mother said as Ciara climbed into the passenger's seat, "Where did you go yesterday?"

"I was at a friend's house," she said.

"Why would you leave?" Maya sighed as she began driving, "Castiel and I were worried sick."

"He was the one who told me to leave," Ciara said, rolling her eyes, "I told him that I didn't want to be there and he said 'well there's the door'."

"He wasn't feeling well," Maya said.

"Mom, he was hung over," she said, "There's a difference. I don't know why you defend him so much."

"Cici, when I was your age," Maya said, "Neither of my parents cared about me. My mom neglected me and my dad abused me. I felt alone, all the time and I don't want you to feel that way."

"I won't feel that way," Ciara said, "I can talk to you when you're not busy. At least if I'm at home all the time and I get lonely, I'll still be safe. I feel like he doesn't even care about me anymore, mom. I just don't want to be around him, is that too much to ask for?"

"Yes, it is," Maya said.

"Fine, then" Ciara said, "I'll just sneak out every time you send me there and I'll spend the night somewhere else."

Maya rolled her eyes. "You're impossible," she muttered.

"I would rather sleep outside near a dumpster instead of sleeping in the same house as him," Ciara sighed.

"Look, Cici," Maya said, "He cares about you a lot, he really does. He's just going through some stuff right now."

"How would you know?" Ciara said, "How would you know that he cares about me?"

"Because I do," she said, "I'm the only person who saw how he reacted while I was pregnant. I'm the only person who saw how he treated you and talked to you while you were a baby. I'm the only person who knew how he spoiled you rotten as a child. He would die for you."

"That's taking it too far," Ciara said, "Maybe when I was young he would have, but not now. It seems like he's being nice to you when he's not drunk but he doesn't seem to want me around anymore."

"I told you, he's going through something," she said.

"What's he going through that's so bad that he's treating me like this?" Ciara said.

"It's hard to explain," she said, "When we were young… he developed a drinking problem back then too. And what he did to me the other night, back at his house, well… he tried to do that before while he was drunk, back when we were young, before I became pregnant. He never actually did it back then because there was always someone around who could stop him. The situation back then was sort of similar to the situation now."

"What was it?" Ciara asked.

"Well, back then," she said slowly, "I was dating Nathaniel and things were very intimate and heated up. While I was broken up with Nathaniel, Castiel was very nice to me and… normal, I guess. But whenever I brought Nathaniel up, he would always get really angry. He was calm about it for years after you were born, but once Nathaniel and I got married, he's been like this again. I don't know what it's going to take to get him to stop this time; I think it was you that influenced him to stop, before you were even born."

"So he's jealous?" Ciara said, "I knew it. It's because he's in love with you."

"He's not," Maya said quickly, "I know he's not. That's not it."

"What else would it be?" Ciara said, "There's literally no other thing that would fit the scenario."

"What should I do in that situation?" Maya sighed, "No, I don't even want to think about it. I'm married."

"Set him straight," Ciara said.

"I tried," Maya said, "Nothing I did worked. Back when we were younger, I knew he had feelings for me but I thought we worked things out. I thought he was seeing Orrihime."

"Mom, he hasn't been seeing Orrihime for over a year," she said before sighing, "What are we going to do?" There was a long, almost unbearable pause before Ciara said, "Oh yeah, after I do my homework, can I go to a friend's house?"

"What friend?" Maya asked, seeming a bit distant.

"My friend Anthony," Ciara answered.

"Oh, sure," Maya said, "But I have a surprise for you first!" She suddenly had a huge grin on her face as she pulled the car into the driveway. Ciara hopped out, following a rushed Maya inside to see Celeste and Lysander, whom she hadn't seen for years now but not only that; Celeste looked like she had a beach ball under her shirt. She was pregnant?


	6. Chapter 6

"Oh my god, Aunt Celeste!" Ciara exclaimed, out of astonishment and Celeste gave her a brilliant grin before attempting to get to her feet, struggling until Lysander helped her up. Ciara ran up and hugged her tightly. "You're pregnant?" she said, "When did this happen?"

"It happened while Lysander and I were on a hot date in the Bahamas for our anniversary," Celeste beamed, her eyes gleaming.

She looked prepared to continue before Maya said, "Um, Celeste, let's not tell inappropriate stories to my fourteen-year-old daughter."

"Well she's gonna do it too one day," Celeste said.

"That doesn't mean she has to hear about it," Maya chuckled.

"Anyway," Celeste sighed, peeling away from Ciara and looking her up and down, "you've gotten hot, Cici. What's your boyfriend like?"

Ciara smiled. "I don't have a boyfriend," she said.

Celeste had a shocked look on her face. "You're kidding, right?" she said, "You're gorgeous!"

Ciara laughed. "No, I'm not kidding," she said, "but thank you."

"Celeste," Maya said feverishly, "tell Cici the news!"

"Oh yeah," Celeste said, "Cici, Lysander and I moved here in town, we live nearby."

"Where?" Ciara asked.

"I think a couple of blocks away from your school," Celeste said, thoughtfully, "We decided it's time to settle down since I'm pregnant now."

"Finally," Maya chuckled, "I bet you guys had a lot of fun though."

"We definitely did," Celeste said.

"Is it gonna be a boy or a girl?" Ciara asked feverishly, "When's your due date?"

"It's a girl," Celeste said, "and I'm due a couple of weeks from now."

"You flew on a plane, that close to your due date?" Maya said, her brow raised.

"No, of course not," Celeste said, "We drove here. It took a while though."

"Wow, I can't wait!" Ciara said.

"Yeah," Celeste said, "Lysander's gonna start working with his brother and I gotta get my butt back into painting, especially since I have connections in this city, so you'll be our baby sitter, Cici."

Ciara grinned, bouncing on her toes. "Have you thought of names yet?"

"We really like the name Genevieve," Celeste said, "It was one of the few names we both agreed on."

"That's a pretty name," Ciara said, "We could call her Gen! Or maybe Genna!"

"We'll see about that," Celeste said.

"Anyway, Cici," Maya said, "Hurry up and do your homework so I can take you to your friend's house."

After she finished her homework, Maya dropped Ciara off at Anthony's house and she knocked on the door. Dimitri was the one who opened it.

"Cici," he said with a grin, "you're just in time! We're about to go to that place I was telling you about."

Anthony stepped out from behind Dimitri, giving him a light push. "Now that Cici's here, let's go," Anthony said.

"Okay," she grinned, "I'm starved."

They began walking, Ciara standing in the middle. "My aunt came to visit," she said happily, "It's been a very long time since I've seen her and I found out she's pregnant and she's gonna live nearby from now on."

"I didn't know you had an aunt," Dimitri said.

"Well she's not my real aunt," Ciara explained, "She's a really good friend of my mom's, and I've known her all my life so I consider her my aunt."

"That's awesome, so you'll have a non-biological cousin," Dimitri said.

"When's she due?" Anthony asked.

"Soon," she said, "She told me that she's having the baby in a few weeks."

"Wow," Dimitri said, "I can't wait to meet the baby. I'm gonna get to meet the baby, right?"

Ciara chuckled. "Sure, I guess," she said, "If you want to, I'll bring you over after we bring her home." She took a deep breath before asking them, "How was your day?"

"Mine was okay," Anthony said, "It was pretty boring until now."

"Mine was great," Dimitri said, "Anthony, do you remember Alison? The babe at my school that I told you about?"

"Yeah, what about her?" Anthony asked.

"Today I found out she has a crush on me," he said with a grin.

"No way," Anthony said, "She's too hot for you."

"She does," Dimitri said, "We got a date Saturday night."

Somehow, Ciara felt just a bit disappointed that he wasn't as interested in her as he pretended to be.

"What about you, Cici?" Anthony asked, "How was your day?"

"My day was great," she said with a smile, purposely excluding the thing with her father that had occurred in the morning; she didn't want them to think she was being whiny, "I'm really happy I got to see my aunt Celeste and Lysander today, it was really nice."

"Is Lysander the one who knocked her up?" Dimitri asked.

Ciara chuckled. "They're married," she said, "So yeah, I would hope so."

"Have they thought of names?" Anthony asked curiously.

"Celeste said that they both like the name Genevieve," Ciara said, "It's a pretty name but it's just begging for nicknames, don't you think?"

"So it's a girl?" Anthony said, "Genevieve is a pretty name."

"Yup, it's a girl," Ciara said.

They spent a couple of hours at the restaurant before walking back to Anthony's house, where Dimitri went home with his mother and with Jake, and Anthony's mother was out buying groceries, leaving Anthony and Ciara alone, where he turned on the TV and put on a movie.

"Are you getting picked up?" Anthony asked.

"I should be," Ciara said, "I don't know though; my mom was supposed to pick me up twenty minutes ago."

"Maybe something came up?" he suggested but she shrugged.

"I figured she'd call," Ciara said, "She's usually on top of things."

"It's fine though," he shrugged, "It's fine if you chill here until she comes."

"I feel like I'm intruding," she chuckled before shaking her head, "Thanks."

"For what?" he asked, "You're not intruding."

"I don't really know," Ciara said, "Thanks for being such a good friend to me these past few days, I guess. Usually I'm fine on my own but since the thing with my dad, I've felt like I needed someone and you and Dimitri were there for me. So thanks for that."

"No problem," he said, "You're fun to hang out with."

"So are you," Ciara said.

There was a long pause before Anthony said, "You know, I knew you would be cool from the second I saw you. I've literally never met a girl who's so willing to fight a guy like you were. You seemed so tough and able to handle yourself."

She shrugged. "That's how I was raised; to handle myself," she said, "But the only reason I fought him like that was because I was in an awful mood that day and he was making me really mad."

"Still," he said, "I've never met a girl like you before. You're different."

"A good different or a bad different?" she asked.

"A good different," he said without hesitation.

She smiled. "Thanks," she said, "It's probably because I grew up spending more time with my dad than I did with my mom."

"I think what's going on between you and your dad will be resolved," he said, "If he loved you your whole life, there's no way he can just stop. He's probably going through something."

"That's what my mom is always telling me," Ciara sighed, "I mean that he's going through something."

"Yeah," Anthony said, "what I think is that you should be ready to forgive him because when whatever is happening is over with, he'll be ready to apologize."

"I don't know if it'll be that simple," she said slowly, "My mom and my step-dad got married a year ago and that's when he started drinking."

"So it really is about your mom?" he said before sighing, "What does your mom think though?"

"No clue," she said, "I'm pretty sure she's like in denial. She probably assumes the problem will resolve itself."

"Is that why she's still taking you to his house?" he asked and she nodded. "What about your safety? It can't be good for you to spend every other night with a drunk."

"I know, that's what I told her but she wouldn't listen," Ciara explained, "She's so confident that it's not a big deal."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, you know, you can always stay at my house whenever she forces you to go to his house," he offered.

"That's really, really nice of you," she said, "But wouldn't that be too much?"

He shook his head. "I honestly don't care and my mom won't find out," he said.

"Thank you so much," she breathed, gazing up at him beside her.

His gaze met hers and she felt as if her mind was racing as he leaned forward slowly. He was going to kiss her? She closed her eyes once she could feel his breath on her lips but a honk outside startled her.

"Oh, I bet that's my mom," she said nervously, peering out the window to see a little purple car outside. Looking closely, she could see her aunt Celeste in the driver's seat. "Oh, it's Celeste," she said feverishly, getting to her feet.

Anthony led her to the door where she slipped on her shoes and turned to face him, giving him a friendly smile before getting to her toes and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He returned the hug tightly.

"I'll see you tomorrow, right, Cici?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," she said, "as long as you're at school. If my mom makes me go to my dad's house, I can come over, right?"

"Yeah, definitely," he said, letting her slide out of his arms before she turned and opened the door.

"See you tomorrow," she said, stepping outside.

"See you," he replied watching her ascend the porch stairs before closing the front door.

Ciara hurried to Celeste's car, hopping in the passenger's seat.

"You're staying at my house tonight," Celeste said as soon as Ciara was in the car, "I brought you some clothes and things you'll need from Maya's house."

"Okay," Ciara said.

"So who was that boy?" Celeste said with a mischievous smile.

"Oh, Anthony?" Ciara said with a grin, "He's just this boy who goes to my school, it's no big deal."

"You sure?" Celeste said, her brow going up.

"Positive," Ciara said.

"You're lying," Celeste said, finally beginning to drive.

"Okay, well don't tell my mom but I slept over his house last night because I didn't want to spend it at my… _dad's_ house," Ciara admitted, "We got closer because of it, that's all. We're good friends, but…"

"But what?" Celeste said anxiously.

"But I think we almost kissed today," she said, a blush creeping on her cheeks, "I mean his face was close to mine and he was about to close his eyes. I think we would have done it if you would've come like three seconds later than you did."

"Damn it," Celeste said, "I knew I should have stopped at my house first and got the pull out couch ready for you before coming." Ciara laughed and Celeste continued, "So anyway, what happened between you and Castiel? Maya wouldn't tell me."

Ciara sighed, swallowing hard. "He's awful," she said, "He's becoming a drunk."

"Oh god," Celeste said, rolling her eyes, "Again?"

"I guess so, even though I don't remember the first time," Ciara muttered, "He did something really, really bad."

"What did he do?" Celeste said protectively, "Did he hurt you?"

"Not me," Ciara said, "Mom. He did something awful to my mom…"

There was a long silence in the car and Celeste's driving was even slowed a bit. The look on her face was distant; Celeste was rarely distant. Finally, she pulled into a driveway of a cute little red and white house before stopping, and turning to gaze at Ciara.

"How do you know he did that?" she asked, "Are you sure about it?"

"Positive," Ciara said, "I was there. He was drunk when we came over and I hid in my room. I tried to yell at him to stop but he threw a glass at my door to get me to go back in my room. I heard the whole thing."

"Baby, I'm sorry," she said, squeezing Ciara's hand, "You shouldn't have had to experience something so awful. Is Maya okay?"

"She's okay, now," Ciara said, "Apparently it only affected her for a night. She still wants me to go to his house every other night."

"I'm not gonna let that happen," Celeste said, "I'll take you in every other night instead of letting you go to his house."

"Thank you, please do that," Ciara said.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Author's note:**__If you read "Until You're Mine" I'm planning to bring that story back as well; I've just been jugging two stories I need to keep updated and I don't want to have too many things on my plate, so it will come back soon but not yet._

* * *

Ciara followed Celeste inside and gazed around. The furniture was beautiful and elegant and definitely looked like something both Lysander and Celeste would be interested in, Ciara mentally noticed as she sat down on the couch with her bag of clothes and other necessities beside her.

"Lysander's at his brother's house right now," Celeste said, pulling a thick blanket suitable for a king-sized bed before tossing it on the couch beside Ciara, "So we can have some girl time before he comes home." She reached beside the couch and twisted a lever and the couch extended out into a big bed, and it was quite comfortable. Celeste plopped down beside Ciara, setting the bag on the floor before pulling the blanket over both of them and turned on the TV.

"What do you wanna watch?" she asked, "Are you hungry? Do you like Chinese food?"

"I don't care," Ciara said, "and no, I just ate."

"Alright," Celeste said, "I guess I'll wait until Lysander gets back before ordering out."

Ciara nodded, gazing blankly at the TV as Celeste put on a rated R movie that Ciara wasn't allowed by her mother to watch.

"Don't tell your mom," Celeste said, winking at her.

Ciara chuckled, nodding. Nearly halfway into the movie, the door opened and Lysander stepped in, turning on the light.

"Hey, babe," Celeste said, pausing the movie, "Are you hungry?"

He just laughed, shaking his head. "You're still doing this?" he said.

She pouted. "Doing what?" she asked.

"You're eating for two people," he said, "If you get hungry, then eat. Don't wait for other people to get hungry too."

Ciara laughed upon the realization of what she did.

Celeste shrugged. "I'm gonna be so fat after I give birth," she sighed, "That's why I'm trying not to eat as much."

"Knowing you, you'll lose it in no time," Lysander said, "You shouldn't risk it; you're carrying. You're supposed to eat more." He gave her a tender smile, slowly approaching before saying, "Besides, even if you are heavier after giving birth, I'll still love you."

He leaned forward, kissing Celeste on the cheek and she beamed.

"I'm so glad I fell for you instead of anyone else," Celeste said, "I've never been happier." She got to her feet, forgetting about the movie and following Lysander into the kitchen, which was basically just an extension to the living room, only separated by a counter. "Speaking of falling," she continued, still very audible in the kitchen, "have you spoken to Castiel?"

"Yeah," he said, "I was just visiting him. He's a mess."

"Really?" she said, "Cici said he's a drunk again."

Lysander breathed a chuckle. "That's the understatement of the year," he said, rolling his eyes, taking something out of the cabinet and preparing to cook something.

"Is it really that bad?" she said, worriedly, "Maybe we should talk to him and have an intervention."

"I don't know if that'll work," he said, "He told me the reason why he started drinking again was because while Maya and Nathaniel weren't married, he figured he might still have a chance with her but now that they're married, he gave up."

"That doesn't explain why he has to be a jerk to Cici about it," she said, irritably, "She's his daughter, for Christ's sake. Honestly, that man just worries the crap out of me sometimes."

"He didn't say anything about Cici while I was there," Lysander said, "So I don't know what's going on there."

"Of course," Ciara muttered, rolling her eyes although she felt as if her heart had just been ripped out but what else should she be expecting?

"What was that, Cici?" Celeste said.

"Oh, nothing," Ciara said, "I'm just talking to myself."

"Was he drunk while you were there?" Celeste asked Lysander.

Lysander shook his head. "He looked like he was just recovering from a hangover though," he said.

Celeste sighed. "He's hopeless," she muttered, "Seriously, let's have an intervention with him. We could bring Maya and have them settle things."

"Does Nathaniel even know?" Lysander asked, "I don't know if that would be fair to him."

"Well they're not going to do anything," Celeste pointed out, "We'll just have Maya explain to Castiel what's going on because he'll listen to her. I don't want him to go down the wrong path; this whole situation is probably killing Cici."

Lysander had a thoughtful look on his face as he began cooking on the stove, Celeste hungrily watching over his shoulder. After a few long moments, he said, "We could try it. We'll both stay in the room to make sure things don't go wrong. To be honest, I don't think Cici should be there though."

"She's involved just as much as Maya is, though," Celeste said, "If anything, she'd be affected by it more than Maya if things went wrong. I think Cici can handle it."

"But what if Castiel takes things badly?" Lysander protested, "She could get hurt."

"It would be worse if she had to hear about it from someone else though," Celeste pointed out, "Hey, Cici, I know you're eavesdropping, so I'll just ask you. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Yes," Ciara said without hesitation, "I want to be there."

"Alright then," Lysander said, "We could do this tomorrow. I'll call him in the early morning to let him know I'm coming, although I'll tell him I'm coming by myself."

"Good plan," Celeste said.

The next morning, Ciara awoke on the couch, only then realizing she'd dozed off the night before while watching the movie. The blanket was up to her shoulders and she was tucked in; Celeste must have done it before going to bed herself. Ciara sat up, gazing around the room. She could hear Lysander's tired voice in another room and she could hear the sink running in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Cici," Celeste greeted from the kitchen, washing the dishes she and Lysander ate out of the night before, "You're up early."

"What time is it?" Ciara asked.

"It's ten in the morning," Celeste said, "I just woke up. Listen, Lysander's on the phone with Castiel right now. You're sure you're willing to go, right?"

"Positive," Ciara said, "At least if he's not turning back, I'll get to see it and maybe it will make me feel better about forgetting about him later."

Celeste sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know if you'll forget about him, ever, no matter what," she said, "You know, the reason why Lysander and I eloped instead of having a regular wedding and celebrating it with the people we love was because of my parents. We found out that my parents were in Miami on _business_ so we went to go visit them, to surprise them, you know? When we found them, they were obviously surprised but it wasn't pleasantly. It was more than awkward with the way they reacted, they were rude to Lysander and they were out of the country by the next morning. The never contacted me since then and that was years ago. I rarely ever even saw my parents but I know that I'll never forget them. Castiel and you were very, very close and you always have been. I know he'll be in your heart no matter what."

Ciara sighed. "Maybe," she said, "but I don't want to be sad about it, that's the thing."

"I don't think you should let go of him," Celeste said, "If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be the person that you are. But you're still you without him."

"I know," Ciara said, just as the door to Celeste and Lysander's room opened and Lysander stepped out, his hair messy and a tired look in his eyes; he was clearly unused to getting up at this time.

"Let's go visit Maya," he said, "She should probably know about this."

Celeste nodded. "Alright," she said, "I'll call her. You two should get ready."

About an hour later, they were pulling into Maya's driveway and Ciara felt a bit nervous, though she was determined to figure this out. She followed Celeste outside to the front porch, Lysander staying in the car, and Celeste knocked.

Nathaniel was the one who opened it. "Oh, good morning you two," he said with a friendly smile, "I hope you're not bringing her back so early because she was a bother."

"No, not at all," Celeste said, "Where's Maya? I need to talk to her."

"She's making lunch," he said, "Why don't you two come inside? Is that Lysander in the car? He can come in too."

"Yeah," Celeste said, brushing past him, "but I gotta make this quick."

Ciara followed closely into their home and into the kitchen, where Maya was indeed making lunch.

"Oh, hey guys," Maya said with a smile, "I didn't know you'd be here so early. I would've made more."

"No, it's fine," Celeste said, "Anyway, Maya, we're taking you to Castiel's house whether you like it or not."

Maya looked puzzled, a nervous glint in her emerald eyes. "What's going on?" she stammered.

Celeste's eyes widened, as if to intimidate her before explaining, "We're going to try to get you both to work things out. Lysander and I will be there to make sure things don't get out of hand and Cici will be there so that things clear up for her too. She might be able to help get Castiel thinking straight."

Maya gazed down at the stove top where two grilled cheese sandwiches simmered on the pan and her French manicured fingernails drummed softly against the marble counter beside her. Her gaze was thoughtful as she considered Celeste and Lysander's idea, while Celeste gazed at her, determination dancing in her eyes, showing she wasn't intending in giving Maya a choice in this. She lifted a slender hand, brushing her black hair that gleamed in the sunlight pouring in from the window, pushing it behind her ear.

"Maybe it could work," she pondered, that nervous glint still in her eyes, "but what if he's drunk?"

"I told you," Celeste said, "Lysander and I will both be there so he can't do anything to you. Also Lysander just called him before we left to make sure he's sober, and he's expecting Lysander over."

"Speaking of Lysander," Maya changed the subject quickly, turning off the stove and scooping the grilled cheese sandwiches each into a plate of their own, "where is he?" She set a plate on either side of the table, lifting one of the sandwiches and nibbling on the end of it, gazing shyly up at Celeste. The look in her eyes gave it away that the last thing she wanted to do on a fine Saturday like today was to go see Castiel; Ciara couldn't blame her, although she longed for things to be fixed in her family. She'd witnessed it herself that Castiel could be dangerous when drunk, but she knew that while he was sober, the women would have the upper hand because he wouldn't dare hit a girl... while sober, at least.

Celeste's brow rose at Maya's question, knowing full well that she was stalling in an attempt to distract Celeste from the problem at hand. Her pale sky blue eyes studied Maya, sweeping her over as if to show that her game wasn't working. Maya heaved a sigh of exasperation.

"Whatever," Maya scoffed, "I don't understand what needs to be fixed." She gave her short black hair a flip before skirting Celeste and opening the door, calling out, "Nat, lunch is finished."

"Cici," Celeste barked, "close the door and make sure Nathaniel doesn't come in here."

Ciara nodded, quickly jumping to the door, pulling it closed away from Maya and putting all of her weight on her feet to prevent him from opening it on the other side. She felt a tug on the door.

"Uh, Maya," Nathaniel speculated on the other side of the door, "There isn't a lock on this door, right?"

Maya cast an icy glare at her daughter, who shrugged before turning back towards the door and standing her ground.

"Quit trying, blondie," Ciara laughed, a wicked smirk on her face, "Just go back to your show. Lunch isn't ready yet."

Celeste laughed, her pearl white teeth shining and her eyes gleamed as she faced Maya, putting her hands on her shoulders. Their gazes locked and Maya cracked her knuckles, meanwhile Celeste had a gritty expression on her face, her jaw clenched and an irritated glare in her eyes.

"Are you stupid, Maya?" Celeste hissed, "You know full well that sending Cici to Castiel's house every other day is dangerous, considering how much of a drunk he's becoming. Don't even tell me it's not that bad because Lysander saw it himself. Stop ignoring it. We all know that it's about you, he said so himself. We have to settle this, for your daughter's sake."

Maya sighed, rolling her eyes. "I just don't want to do it, okay?" she said, "I just don't want to have to confront him. That's the only reason why I wanted to keep sending Cici over there, because I was afraid that he would come to me and ask me about why she hasn't been going."

"So you were just sending Cici over there, putting her in danger, to protect yourself? This is your daughter we're talking about. I thought that mothers are supposed to put their children first, always. Get on your feet, Maya. You're thirty-one now, you're not still a kid; you have someone you need to protect."

Nathaniel managed to pull the door open, pulling Ciara along with it so that she tumbled into him. She had known that he was stronger than her but she didn't know that he wouldn't let her win in this; he must have heard the conversation between Celeste and Maya. He took Ciara's shoulders as she fell into him and he spun her around so that her back was against his torso but he held her close to him protectively.

"Maya, you need to go with them," he insisted, "I may not be her father but I do love Cici and I couldn't stand to see her hurt."

For once the king of submissive husbands stood up against his wife.

"I do want Cici to be safe," Maya whined, "I just really don't want to go and see him, okay?"

"I'm not asking you," he said, "I'm telling you."

Maya looked taken aback at his sudden forcing-of-dominance before Celeste nodded.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Celeste said.


	8. Chapter 8

**Note: I do not promote bad behavior of any kind so please don't take what happens in this chapter as an invitation to try it. Drugs are baaaaad.**

* * *

Maya gazed around at the three of them, a shocked expression on her face as if she was expecting at least one of them to agree with her. She exhaled nervously, her brow low. "Okay, fine but you and Lysander have to sit right next to me to make sure nothing happens."

Celeste's glare eased into a warm grin that spread across her face, her eyes gleaming with excitement. It was hard to believe she had looked angry just a moment ago, with the magnetic smile on her face she had now. "That's fine! Let's go."

Even with the new feverish look on her face, Ciara could see the vigor in the way Celeste snatched up Maya's arm and pulled her past Nathaniel. Maya gazed up at Nathaniel, a piteous look in her eyes but he just gave her a quick, reassuring kiss on the cheek before she was pulled out of the room by Celeste. Ciara trailed behind closely, a nervous feeling in her gut as she gazed out the door towards Lysander's car, unsure whether or not she was emotionally ready for confrontation with Castiel. At this point, she knew she had no choice, climbing back into the backseat of the car beside her mother. She leaned her head against the window, watching all the scenery go by in a blur as Lysander drove towards Castiel's house, praying that nothing would go wrong and putting all her trust in Celeste and Lysander. If he were drunk however, it would ruin the entirety of the plan, because their words probably wouldn't even reach him mentally so he wouldn't pose a threat while sober… hopefully.

As they pulled into his driveway, she began to feel slightly lightheaded, following Celeste and her mother while Lysander took the lead. He knocked on the door and it wasn't long until Castiel answered, for once not looking like a mess with his hair combed and he was clad in a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath it. He looked ready to go out. He greeted Lysander with a grin which faded upon the realization that they were behind him.

"I didn't know you were bringing them along," Castiel said slowly.

"Are you disappointed?" Lysander asked, examining his expression, "Disappointed to see your daughter and your closest friends?"

Castiel's expression went from startled to completely irritated in a matter of seconds and he grasped the door knob as if he would slam the door. "What are you guys trying to do?"

It was almost astonishing how calm the others appeared, even Maya. Celeste looked expectant and Maya looked neutral as if this was a usual thing. Ciara, on the other hand, was sure she appeared as afraid and disappointed as she felt, following them inside as Lysander pushed Castiel back.

Lysander gestured to Celeste once they were inside and she closed the door, leaning against it and lifting a stiletto covered foot against the door, digging her heel against the wood. Lysander sat Castiel down in a couch of his own before taking a seat in between Maya and Ciara, leaning forward protectively. At this point, Ciara was positive that Castiel was sober but Lysander being there made her feel safer.

Celeste was the first to speak. "Hey, Castiel, what's going on? Why don't you be honest? We're all friends here; there's no need to hide your feelings." Her voice was surprisingly reassuring, despite the stern look on her face. Even in a tense situation like this, Celeste appeared strong and collected.

Castiel, on the other hand was getting increasingly angry, gazing around at them and casting a cold glare at Celeste as she spoke. "Why do you care?"

"You don't have to say it," Maya's voice shook, "We all already know, Castiel. It's me, right?" He gazed at her wide-eyed but didn't say a word as she continued, "You're in love with me. But Castiel, I...I don't know what to say or do. I'm afraid to return your feelings at this point because you keep drinking and while you're drunk, you pose a threat to my daughter's safety and that's not okay. That aside, I'm married. I love Nathaniel..."

Watching Maya as she said those last three words, she didn't seem too convinced with them herself but the room stayed silent for some long, excruciating moments while Ciara waited nervously for someone to say something. She wasn't quite sure whether they were waiting for Maya to continue or not, but it seemed Maya was too preoccupied with staring at the floor anxiously to say anything more. What else was there for her to say?

Finally, Castiel spoke. "Maya... I don't know why I do it. It's been years, and I'm still not used to it... this feeling, I mean. I don't mean to pose a threat to you or Cici. I love you both. I don't know what I want, okay? I want you to be happy but I want you at the same time. I can't handle it and when I'm drunk, I don't feel it. I won't try to stop you guys if you don't want me around anymore."

Maya was sitting up straight now, her hands clenched into fists in her lap and it seemed like she was fighting back tears. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Ciara couldn't blame her; she could see that if Maya spoke, she would begin to cry. So Ciara was the one to break the silence. "Dad, I love you but I don't know why you're ruining it. Everything was perfect before. I was happy, mom was happy, and you were happy too. I don't know anything about being in love but I do know that it's better to be friends than it is to hate each other."

"Shut up, Ciara." Maya's voice startled just about everyone in the room. She rarely ever snapped at Ciara in such a way, that it hurt when she did. It seemed she startled herself, even. "You don't know what you're talking about so just stay quiet like you were before. Castiel, being drunk to get away from your problems is pointless because when you're sober again, your problems are still there. It only increases your problems. Is it worth it to drink yourself into oblivion after we leave you here to wallow in your self-pity? Is it really worth it to know that you'll die from alcohol poisoning? You mean a lot to me, Castiel. I don't want to have to tell people that I saw it coming and I didn't try to stop you."

Celeste began tapping her heel against the door, scrutinizing both Maya and Castiel with her brow furrowed. She rolled her eyes, flipping her glowing candy red hair and letting her sky blue eyes run over everyone in the room. "Maya, just say what you're feeling, it's bothering me so much that I can see it as bright as day on your face."

Ciara examined Maya's expression but saw nothing more than angst. Maybe Celeste knew how to read her better, because she's known her so much longer. Maya sighed, gazing at her lap. "I didn't want to say it because Ciara's in the room but… I guess she won't say anything. Castiel… that one night we spent together… I'm sure you remember it; the night Cici was conceived. That was one of the best nights of my life. Every night I've had with Nathaniel combined couldn't match what I felt from you that night. You knew exactly what to do without even thinking about it; it was like you were made for me and me alone. I think about that almost every night, and every time I'm with Nathaniel I catch myself imagining it was you and to be honest, I'm not exactly sure if it's just lust or real feelings that I'm repressing. At this point, I want you, okay? But I can't have you because Nathaniel is my husband."

Celeste groaned with exasperation. "Maya, that's a bullshit reason, to be completely honest with you. Your relationship with Nathaniel is so generic; I don't even know how you can say that. There's nothing behind it. When I'm near you two as a couple, I can't feel the love between you both like I used to back in high school. I bet that you're only staying with him to spare his feelings and he's only staying with you to spare yours. That's not a reason to be together. That's a fake relationship and you both will be unhappy if it keeps going like this."

"What do you want me to do?" Maya snapped, "Just up and divorce him after we just got married not that long ago? And what if you're wrong and he really does love me? It would crush him if I spontaneously came home today with a 'we need to divorce'. What if you thought everything was perfect with Lysander and then all of the sudden, he came home one day and told you he wanted to leave you? How would you feel?"

"That's completely different. I'm having a child with him. If he decided to leave me now, while I'm about to give birth, I'd smack him upside the head and tell him he needs to sleep for a couple of days before making that decision so suddenly… no offense, Lysander."

Lysander held up his hand to dismiss her comment. "If I did that, I couldn't blame you for it, but I wouldn't."

Maya sighed. "This isn't making me feel better, you guys."

"Our situation is different," Celeste said, "Don't compare yours to ours. Nathaniel isn't about to have a baby, is he? No. You two don't even have any children together and I think at this point you could have a clean divorce, and still be friends and he could visit if he really wants to see you guys. It shouldn't affect Cici too much because Castiel is her real dad anyway."

"This is ridiculous," Castiel finally said, "Look at her. She'd never leave Nathaniel, not for me, no matter how little she actually loves him. It's all pointless. This conversation only made everything worse."

"I just need time to think," Maya pointed out, "It's a big decision. It's not just 'oh wow, today I feel like divorcing my husband'. Don't try to force me into something I'm not ready for."

Celeste chuckled. "You're totally ready for it! Whenever I see you around Nathaniel, I can just smell the friend-zone. You two aren't even like friends with benefits, either. Just some acquaintances who have sex every couple of weeks. That's all you two seem like. Maya, you're my best friend, aside from Lysander. I care about you, that's why I'm doing this."

Maya sighed and the moments proceeding Celeste's remarks felt as if they were lasting hours. Everyone had their eyes on Maya, whose hands were still clenched into tight balls in her lap and her eyes were troubled. She, herself, looked unsure, as if she didn't know what she wanted. Maya bit into her lip, squeezing her eyes closed and the tension-filled silence was almost excruciating. Castiel was the one who was most disturbed by it, visibly shifting in his spot on the couch, his eyes glued to Maya and his expression easing from being curious to being angry to being sad in a cycle.

"Dad," Ciara said softly, "what about me? If this was all because of mom, why did it feel like you were angry with me?"

Castiel's expression turned into an exhausted one, as he shook his head slowly, examining his daughter. "Cici… I love you. I was just… going through a rough patch, okay?" He looked unsure with everything after "I love you".

Ciara nodded, her straight black locks bouncing on her shoulders. "Yeah, but… you were being nice to Lysander."

Castiel's mouth opened and then closed, and then opened again but nothing came out. His gray eyes proved that he had something to say but he wasn't sure if he really wanted to say it. Ciara's gaze wandered back to Maya, who still had her teeth buried in her pale pink lip and her eyes were still squeezed closed.

"Cici," Castiel said, snapping her attention back to him, "You just… you look a lot like your mother."

At that note, he had everyone's attention, including Maya's, who loosened her fists and gazed up at Castiel with her eyes narrowed. She suddenly looked infuriated, ready to pounce on him at any given moment. "You were neglecting your daughter because she looks like me?" Castiel paled, realizing he'd said the wrong thing.

He shook his head quickly, a nervous expression coming over his face. "It's not like that!"

"Maya, you're misunderstanding," Celeste jumped into the conversation, still looking utterly calm, "I think he's saying that you were the reason why he felt that way, and he took it out on Cici because she looks like you."

"I'm in love with you," Maya said before covering her own mouth, as if the words had slipped out of their own accord. Everyone in the room now directed their attention to her; she gazed at Castiel and her face flushed red.

"Maya," Castiel murmured, pausing to let her words sink in before sitting upright and leaning forward feverishly. "Maya, this could work if you just divorce him."

Maya shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't know." She buried her face in her hands and took a deep breath, the stressfulness of the whole situation visible on her. Ciara gazed down at her lap; it was all a lot to take in, the fact that her dad was in love with her mom and her mom was in love with her dad but she was married.

"Hey, Cici," Celeste said, gesturing her over, "Come on. I'll take you out somewhere." Ciara followed Celeste out the door and to the car, where she climbed in the passenger's seat and buckled in, waiting for Celeste to do the same. "I could tell that you didn't want to be there anymore," Celeste sighed as she buckled in as well.

Ciara shrugged, leaning against the car window beside her. She felt incomplete somehow, like things weren't working out the way she wanted them to work out and she didn't know what to do. The first thing that crossed her mind was visiting Anthony again, but she wasn't sure what she would tell him about the whole situation. Thinking of talking about it made her want to burst into tears because she herself felt as if the situation was out of her control and she didn't like that. "Can you take me to Anthony's house? The friend I was visiting yesterday." Her voice was soft and cracked as she spoke. All she wanted was to sleep but she wanted to see Anthony too.

Celeste was silent for a few long moments, and she just seemed to be driving straight, as if she had no intentions of going somewhere in particular. She turned sharply, which startled Ciara before driving in the direction of Anthony's house and Ciara breathed a sigh of relief. Celeste said nothing the whole drive there, as if she knew that Ciara didn't want to talk to anybody now; no one but Anthony.

The car came to an easy, slow stop in front of his house and Ciara gazed up at it, her memory flashing back to the night when Castiel had called her and she ended up bursting into tears; when Anthony had held her until she fell asleep. She recalled just yesterday when their lips were centimeters away from meeting, interrupted by the honking outside. The thoughts made her more anxious to see him as she thanked Celeste and hopped out of the car, rushing to the front door and knocking rapidly. It wasn't long before the door opened to reveal Anthony, clearly enjoying a lazy Saturday with tired honey eyes, messy fair brown hair, clad in only a pair of gray sweat pants that seemed to bring out his natural tan skin tone and he looked surprised to see her.

Without a word, Ciara threw herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his shoulder. His hands snaked around her waist and she could feel his lips brushing her neck through her hair. She hadn't felt so at home in days, and it was the first time she felt so suddenly comforted just from a boy, and she hadn't realized she was crying until she noticed the wet spot on his shoulder. Anthony held her tighter, without a word and for once, she liked that. She willed that he wouldn't speak, just for a little while because she didn't want to speak out of fear that her words wouldn't be understandable through her crying.

After a few long moments of Ciara crying on to his bare, broad shoulder, he finally took her by the shoulders and peeled her off of him. She gazed up at him, sniffling before he lifted a hand and brushed her hair out of her face, a worried look in his eyes replacing the tired one. "Are you okay?" he asked softly, holding her cheek in his hand. She shook her head slowly and he took her hand, pulling her inside and leading her upstairs to his room, where she sat down on the edge of his bed and he stood, facing her.

Ciara let her gaze fall to her lap and she rubbed one eye, sniffling. The room was utterly silent, even with the both of them in there and she could almost hear his breathing sitting less than a foot from where he stood. She could feel his gaze on her, examining her for any sign of what happened to make her cry and she met his gaze. He looked ready to kill whoever it was to make her cry.

"Cici," he murmured, kneeling down in front of her and holding both of her hands in his, "tell me who did this to you. Tell me what happened." Ciara gazed at him, wanting nothing more than to kiss him and to avoid telling him out of fear that he'd think it was ridiculous.

But as she gazed at him, she found her lips forming words, her quiet, cracking voice giving them sound. "Nothing will ever be fixed. My dad is in love with my mom but my mom doesn't want to get a divorce and he said that things only got worse after having that conversation and they don't realize that this whole thing is affecting me so much and I don't know what to do, Anthony. What if my family is never the same again?"

Anthony gazed up at her, a sympathetic look in his eyes before he reached his hand up, touching her cheek and pulling her face closer until their lips were in a gently starting, tight lip-lock. She tangled her fingers into his hair, squeezing her eyes closed and giving him all of her passion and all of her despair through her kiss until she couldn't feel anything aside from her heart racing wildly in her chest. He touched her waist and brought her closer until she slipped off the edge of the bed, her knees hitting the floor in front of him with a thud, and their lips didn't once detach. She could feel freedom and fire burning in the pit of her stomach, spreading through her limbs, as if the kiss gave her the strength she needed. So who cares if her family could be permanently damaged? She didn't need them, she only needed herself.

When Anthony finally peeled away, he gazed directly into Ciara's eyes and she felt as if he could see through her, giving her a sudden thrill she'd never felt before. He released her and knelt down and reached under the bed, digging around. "Hold on." When he emerged, he emerged with a bag of what looked like a crumpled green leaf and he gave her an eager smile and she automatically knew what it was: marijuana. She'd never actually seen it in person, but she'd seen it enough times in health class to know what it was. "We can smoke some of this and I promise you won't even remember the conversation that happened today."

Ciara nodded without a second thought and watched him take a little translucent paper out of the drawer beside his bed and he sprinkled some of the marijuana into it and rolled it up before sticking one end between his lips and lighting the other end with a lighter. He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes and holding it in for a moment before passing the joint to her. Ciara gazed at it for a moment, wondering whether she should or she shouldn't before slipping it from his fingers and imitating what he did. Once she inhaled she felt a burn in the back of her throat and coughed up a bunch of smoke, leaving Anthony chuckling. "That was a good one."

They passed it back and forth and she went from being giggly for a few moments to just being utterly calm. The burning in the back of her throat almost felt good by the time they killed the joint and Anthony reached out and squeezed her knee, giving her a smile. "Are you still upset?" She laughed, a breathy, tired laugh, shaking her head and he sat beside her, pulling her close so that she rested her head on his shoulder. "Are we dating?"

"Why not?" she pondered, gazing up at the ceiling, "Sure." He stroked her side opposite him and kissed her forehead, leaving her heart racing. She felt happier than she'd ever felt before somehow; as if every worry had been lifted off her shoulders and thrown into the ocean. She wanted to do everything but at the same time, she didn't want to do anything at all; yet everything felt perfect.


End file.
